Abstract
A biosurfactant-producing isolate, Bacillus subtilis AHV-KH11, was used for the biodegradation of diesel-contaminated saline soils. In addition to naturally occurring diesel contamination, the collected soil samples were artificially contaminated with diesel oil at concentrations ranging from 1000 to 5000 mg kg(- 1) of soil. The operational parameters investigated in our experiment were the initial seed volume (5-20 mL), soil moisture content (100-300%), external surfactants (rhamnolipid and Tween 80), and salinity levels (0.5-2%). The results indicated that diesel biodegradation was optimized at an initial seed volume of 10 mL, while further increases up to 20 mL provided no additional benefit. This suggests that diesel biodegradation can be effectively initiated with a relatively modest bacterial inoculum. This study demonstrates how the remediation process enhances the salinity tolerance of Bacillus subtilis AHV-KH11, achieving effective remediation at 1.5% salinity without an external surfactant and enhanced performance at 8% salinity when exogenous rhamnolipid is added. The addition of rhamnolipid as an external biosurfactant increased the diesel biodegradation rate. In addition to accelerating diesel degradation, rhamnolipid significantly improved soil health, as demonstrated by toxicity assays using Eisenia fetida, the mortality rate dropped from 88% in untreated diesel-contaminated soil to 41% in bioremediated soil after 14 days. Furthermore, the salt tolerance of Bacillus subtilis AHV-KH11 can be enhanced, highlighting its potential as an efficient diesel decomposer and biosurfactant producer in pure or mixed cultures for the bioremediation of diesel-contaminated saline soils.